Perils of Nyoka
Encyclopedia
Perils of Nyoka is a 1942
1942 in film
The year 1942 in film involved some significant events, in particular the release of a film consistently rated as one of the greatest of all time, Casablanca.-Events:...

 Republic
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....

 Movie serial directed by William Witney
William Witney
William Nuelsen Witney was an American film and television director. He is best remembered for the movie serials he co-directed with John English for Republic Pictures such as Daredevils of the Red Circle, Zorro's Fighting Legion and Drums of Fu Manchu.He directed many Westerns during his career,...

. It starred Kay Aldridge
Kay Aldridge
Kay Aldridge was an American model and actress. She is best known for playing feisty and frequently-imperiled heroines in black and white serials during the 1940s.-Life and work:...

 as Nyoka the Jungle Girl
Nyoka the Jungle Girl
Nyoka the Jungle Girl is a fictional character created for the screen in the 1941 serial Jungle Girl, starring Frances Gifford as Nyoka Meredith. The character of Nyoka is often described as having been created by Edgar Rice Burroughs...

, a character who first appeared in the Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...

-inspired serial "Jungle Girl."

Plot

Nyoka
Nyoka the Jungle Girl
Nyoka the Jungle Girl is a fictional character created for the screen in the 1941 serial Jungle Girl, starring Frances Gifford as Nyoka Meredith. The character of Nyoka is often described as having been created by Edgar Rice Burroughs...

, with Larry Grayson, attempt to discover the Golden Tablets of Hippocrates
Hippocrates
Hippocrates of Cos or Hippokrates of Kos was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles , and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine...

. This, along with the value of the gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 and the treasure
Treasure
Treasure is a concentration of riches, often one which is considered lost or forgotten until being rediscovered...

 it was buried with, contains the medical knowledge of the Ancients. Also hunting for the tablets are Queen Vultura ("Ruler of the Arabs") and Cassib.

Main cast

  • Kay Aldridge
    Kay Aldridge
    Kay Aldridge was an American model and actress. She is best known for playing feisty and frequently-imperiled heroines in black and white serials during the 1940s.-Life and work:...

     as Nyoka Gordon
    Nyoka the Jungle Girl
    Nyoka the Jungle Girl is a fictional character created for the screen in the 1941 serial Jungle Girl, starring Frances Gifford as Nyoka Meredith. The character of Nyoka is often described as having been created by Edgar Rice Burroughs...

    . Aldridge replaced Frances Gifford
    Frances Gifford
    Mary Frances Gifford was an American actress who played leads and supporting roles in many 1930s and 1940s movies.-Career:...

     as Nyoka. The success and popularity she gained from her role in this serial made Kay Aldridge the star of several of the better Republic serials for years after its release. In his autobiography, director William Witney stated that the studio decided to use a different actress just to further ensure that there would be no actionable copyright infringement. Ray Stedman, however, writes that Gifford was not cast in this serial because she had been on loan from another studio for Jungle Girl and was not available for the filming of this serial. Cline partially backs this point of view, saying that Gifford was unavailable to reprise her role because she had moved on to feature films.
  • Clayton Moore
    Clayton Moore
    Clayton Moore was an American actor best known for playing the fictional western character The Lone Ranger from 1949–1951 and 1954-1957 on the television series of the same name.-Early years:...

     as Dr Larry Grayson
  • Lorna Gray
    Lorna Gray
    Lorna Gray is an American film actress, known for her comic roles and later as a villainess. She is best known for her role as Mattie Herring in the 1940 Three Stooges film You Nazty Spy!-Career:...

     as Vultura, Ruler of the Arabs
  • Charles Middleton
    Charles B. Middleton
    Charles B. Middleton was an American stage and film actor. During a film career that began at age 46 and lasted almost 30 years, Charles Middleton appeared in nearly two hundred films as well as numerous plays...

     as Cassib
  • William Benedict
    William Benedict
    William Benedict was an American actor. Born in Haskell, Oklahoma, he took part in school theatricals, and on leaving school he made his way to Hollywood. His first film was $10 Raise starring Edward Everett Horton, which launched Benedict on a busy career...

     as Red Davis
  • Forbes Murray as Prof Douglas Campbell
  • George Pembroke as John Spencer
  • Tristram Coffin as Benito Torrini
  • Forrest Taylor as Translator

Supporting Cast

  • Forbes Murray as Professor Douglas Campbell
  • Robert Strange as Professor Henry Gordon
  • George Pembroke as John Spencer
  • Georges Renavent
    Georges Renavent
    Georges Renavent was an actor in American classic films, Broadway plays and operator of American Grand Guignol. He was born in Paris, France....

     as Maghreb, Vultura's high priest
  • John Davidson
    John Davidson (actor)
    John Davidson was an American film actor. He appeared in 148 films between 1915 and 1963.He was born in New York, New York and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:...

     as Lhoba, Tuareg high priest
  • George J. Lewis
    George J. Lewis
    George J. Lewis was a Mexican-born actor who appeared in many films and eventually TV series from the 1920s through the 1960s, usually specializing in westerns...

     as Batan, Arab henchman
  • Ken Terrell
    Ken Terrell
    Ken Terrell was an American western and action film actor and stuntman best known for playing Joe Marcella in the 1956 film The Indestructible Man. He died March 8, 1966 from arteriosclerosis-Partial filmography:...

     as Ahmed, Arab henchman
  • John Bagni as Ben Ali
  • Kenne Duncan
    Kenne Duncan
    Kenne Duncan , born Kenneth Duncan MacLachlan, was a well-known B-movie character actor. Hyped professionally as "The Meanest Man in the Movies," the vast majority of his over 250 appearances on camera were Westerns, but he also did occasional forays into horror, crime drama, and science fiction...

     as Abou, expedition headman
  • Arvon Dale as Bedouin 1
  • Emil Van Horn played the gorilla "Satan" just as he had played the gorilla in Jungle Girl.

Production

Perils of Nyoka was budgeted at $169,296 although the final negative cost
Negative cost
Negative cost is the cost of actually producing and shooting a film. It does not include such costs as distribution and promotion.Low-budget movies, for example The Blair Witch Project, can have promotional expenses that are much larger than the negative cost.The term comes from the costs up to the...

 was $175,010 (a $5,714, or 3.4%, overspend). It was the most expensive Republic serial of 1942. It was filmed between 20 March and 2 May 1942. The serial's production number was 1197. The success of the original serial Jungle Girl prompted the sequel, but the studio did not want to pay licensing fees to Burroughs again, so it avoided any repetition of the term "Jungle Girl," to which he had the rights. Instead, "Nyoka," the name of the main character in the first film, was placed in the title of the sequel, because that name was an original creation of Republic's writers, not of Burroughs.

Theatrical

Perils of Nyokas official release date is 27 June 1942, although this is actually the date the seventh chapter was made available to film exchanges. The serial was re-released on 2 April 1952, under the new title Nyoka and the Tigermen, between the first runs of Radar Men from the Moon
Radar Men from the Moon
Radar Men from the Moon is the first Commando Cody serial, in 12 chapters, starring newcomer George Wallace as Cody and Aline Towne as his sidekick Joan Gilbert, with serial veteran Roy Barcroft as the evil Retik, the Ruler of the Moon. The director was Fred C...

 and Zombies of the Stratosphere
Zombies of the Stratosphere
Zombies of the Stratosphere was intended as the second serial featuring "new hero" Commando Cody and the third 12-chapter serial featuring the rocket-powered flying suit introduced in King of the Rocket Men...

.

Television

Perils of Nyoka was one of twenty-six Republic serials re-released as a film on television in 1966. The title of the film was changed to Nyoka and the Lost Secrets of Hippocrates. This version was cut down to 100-minutes in length.

Critical reception

Jim Harmon
Jim Harmon
James Judson Harmon , better known as Jim Harmon, was an American short story author and popular culture historian who wrote extensively about the Golden Age of Radio. He sometimes used the pseudonym Judson Grey, and occasionally he was labeled Mr...

 and Donald F. Glut
Donald F. Glut
Donald F. Glut is an American writer, motion picture director, screenwriter, amateur paleontologist, musician and actor....

 write that this is probably the best Jungle serial ever made and that it "lavished in increased production values." Cline notes that Perils of Nyoka stands out in the memories of the original serial audiences despite the strong competition of 1942.

Chapter titles

  1. Desert Intrigue (26min 50s)
  2. Death's Chariot (17min 9s)
  3. Devil's Crucible (16min 52s)
  4. Ascending Doom (16min 48s)
  5. Fatal Second (16min 49s)
  6. Human Sacrifice (16min 41s)
  7. Monster's Clutch (16min 47s)
  8. Tuareg Vengeance (16min 44s)
  9. Buried Alive (16min 41s)
  10. Treacherous Trail (16min 51s)
  11. Unknown Peril (16min 40s)
  12. Underground Tornado (16min 39s)
  13. Thundering Death (16min 43s)
  14. Blazing Barrier (16min 38s)
  15. Satan's Fury (16min 33s)

Source:

See also

  • Jungle Girl - character type
  • Jungle Girl
    Jungle Girl (serial)
    Jungle Girl is a 15-Chapter Republic Pictures Serial starring Frances Gifford. It was directed by William Witney and John English based on the novel Jungle Girl by Edgar Rice Burroughs...

     (1941) - An earlier Nyoka serial
  • Damsel in distress
    Damsel in distress
    The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden, is a classic theme in world literature, art, and film. She is usually a beautiful young woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain or monster and who requires a hero to achieve her rescue. She has become a stock character of fiction,...

  • List of film serials
  • List of film serials by studio

External links

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